Two more teen killers seek new sentences

CEDAR RAPIDS (AP) — Two more Iowa inmates want to be resentenced for murders they committed when they were 17.

The Gazette says motions filed Wednesday for 28-year-old David Keegan and 37-year-old Jose Ruesga cite a May decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court threw out mandatory life sentences for murdering juveniles, which was in line with earlier rulings that juveniles couldn’t automatically be punished the same way as adults without considering age and other factors.

Gov. Terry Branstad subsequently commuted the sentences of the Iowa inmates affected, giving them a mandatory 60 years before they could become eligible for parole.

But the motions for Keegan and Ruesga say the 60-year minimum is basically a life sentence and doesn’t allow for individualized sentencing that the Supreme Court ruling requires.